Officials have confirmed to KTTN the deaths of two people early this morning in a house fire at Spickard. Grundy County Coroner Dewayne Slater is withholding the release of their names pending positive identification.

Slater said autopsies were to be performed this afternoon in Kansas City to provide the official cause of death. The victims are described as an elderly couple. He said both bodies were recovered on the main level of the homeâ€”one in the front part and the other in the center.

Jesse Richmond, the chief of the Spickard Fire Protection District, said the alarm came in about 3:30 this (Thursday) morning regarding a fire in a two story brick home on Commercial Street. When firefighters arrived, Richmond said flames were seen shooting from windows on the east and west sides of the upper floor to the structure.

He described the home as approximately 100 years old. Assistance was received from firefighters with the Grundy County Rural Fire Protection District, Mercer County Fire Protection, and the Trenton Fire Department.

In describing the fire scene, Richmond stated the second floor is "totally gone".

The first floor and basementâ€”he said--was â€śin tactâ€ť until machinery was brought to the scene to tear down a wall to aid firefighters working in the â€śrecovery mode.â€ť All contents were destroyed.

The State Fire Marshal's office had two investigators at the scene in Spickard to help local authorities determine the cause of the blaze.